ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday said he supports integration of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into the Damascus administration.
Erdogan told Putin that “Türkiye backs the absorption of the so-called “Syrian Democratic Forces” into the central administration, and that stopping Syria, in its entirety, from serving as a fertile ground for terrorist organizations is of vital importance for the country’s stability,” read a statement from the Republic of Turkey’s Directorate of Communications.
It is “crucial for Türkiye and Russia to cooperate to restore peace and stability in Syria based on the country’s territorial integrity, and that Türkiye and Russia can work together to thwart attempts that seek to disrupt Syria’s unity by stoking ethnic and sectarian separatism, as well as to secure the lifting of all sanctions on Syria,” the statement added.
Turkey is close to the new administration in Damascus, led by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa whose Islamist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) spearheaded the swift offensive that toppled the regime of Bashar al-Assad in December. Russia was a staunch supporter of Assad, but has signaled it is ready to cooperate with the new Syrian leadership.
The SDF has signed an agreement with Sharaa to integrate all civil and military institutions in the predominantly Kurdish northeast into the state’s institutions and to hand over control of border crossings and oil fields. Implementation of the deal is still being discussed.
The Kurds, however, are concerned about the direction the new authorities are taking the country in after a transitional constitution put exclusive powers into Sharaa’s hands and marginalized minorities.
Kurdish political parties in northeast Syria (Rojava) have prepared a list of demands for Damascus, but its release to the public has been delayed until early April.
The SDF is the main ally of the United States-led global coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS). It is also the de facto army of Rojava. Ankara believes the Kurdish forces are a branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and has carried out several military operations against them.
